Unreal Engine is no longer just a tool for games. It is used by over a million people every month, 28% of all PC games in 2024 are created on the engine, and it is used in film, the automotive industry, and television graphics.
Epic Games' Vice President of Product Development, Sebastian Miglio, said that expanding beyond games was a deliberate strategy. The series "The Mandalorian", the short film "War Is Over", graphics for TV and YouTube – all created on the same engine, originally developed by Tim Sweeney for the 1998 game.
Epic's model is simple: game developers use the engine for free and pay a 5% commission after a million dollars in revenue, while in other sectors the license costs about $1800 per year. Future plans include generative AI for creating 3D objects and maps for multiplayer games on 300 km² for 100,000 players simultaneously.
A warning was issued by Brice Roy from the ICAN organization. He believes that the dominance of Unreal could lead to a "standardization of aesthetics": games on the engine have a recognizable style that is difficult to confuse with anything else.
